Peyton Manning leads Denver Broncos to strong first win over Steelers

The Broncos' Peyton Manning played quarterback Sunday night as though he had burning coals beneath those ever-chopping feet. The Pittsburgh Steelers' Roethlisberger played like he was out walking the dog, intent on teaching a few tricks.

It was a stirring game of differing tempo and style. A game of superb quarterbacking. A game of exhaustive defense.

A game that went back and forth.

A game Manning and the Broncos won 31-19, even though they barely touched the ball in the second and third quarters.

"When he did get the ball, and we needed big drives, Peyton came through for us," Broncos defensive tackle Justin Bannan said. "That's what we brought him here for. You watch the way he runs the clock, you watch him be patient, you watch the little things he does, as a defensive player you're standing there with a smile on your face."

The 2012 opener was played on a perfectly comfortable September evening before a sellout crowd of more than 76,000 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High and a nationally televised audience. It was a game Tracy Porter clinched with a 43-yard interception return for a touchdown at the two-minute warning.

The Broncos won primarily because Manning is back in all his glory. He is the Peyton Manning of old. Despite missing all of last season with a neck injury, despite playing with a new team in a new home stadium with new teammates, Manning played quarterback as Michelangelo would paint, as Shakespeare would write, as Fred Astaire would dance.

Manning plays as an artist. He threw his 400th and 401st touchdown passes of his career, Nos. 1 and 2 with the Broncos.

Broncos teammates Rahim Moore and Tracy Porter break up a play against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the first quarter Sunday in Denver. More photos. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

He completed 73.1 percent (19-of-26) of his passes, or 26 percent higher than Tim Tebow's season mark last season, while posting a 129.2 quarterback rating.

Manning did almost all his damage after the team junked its huddle-up, walk-up-to-the-line offense after a scoreless first quarter. In its place came the no-huddle offense. The beauty of the no-huddle is it allows Manning to be in complete charge of the offense from the line of scrimmage.

"I think it made a difference," Manning said of the no-huddle. "I think it gave our offense a little boost and got us in a little rhythm."

Manning led the Broncos back from a 19-14 deficit early in the fourth quarter. He couldn't lead them back before then because the Broncos' offense seemingly never had the ball.

The Denver Post's NFL reporters post analysis, notes and more on this blog focusing on the Denver Broncos.

Roethlisberger's remarkable efficiency on third down — in particular on third-and-long — was reminiscent of the 2005 AFC championship game played in Denver. The Steelers converted eight of their first nine third downs, including five consecutive of at least 7 yards, to defeat Jake Plummer and the Broncos 34-17 on that day. The Broncos haven't come close to the Super Bowl since, although Plummer was back in the stadium Sunday night, this time as a fan, to see if Manning could get them on their way.

Jake the Snake almost saw Big Ben do it again. When Roethlisberger converted a third-and-2 seconds into the fourth quarter with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace, the Steelers at that point were a ridiculous 12-of-17 on third down.

"It starts with me and Elvis (Dumervil) — we have to do a better job on the pass rush," Broncos linebacker Von Miller said.

Although Miller would get two sacks in the final seconds, with the outcome settled, he was frustratingly close to Roethlisberger several times when it counted, only to see the burly Steeler convert third downs on plays of 18, 13, 12, 11, 10 and 9 yards.

Third downs are clock hoggers. The Steelers had the ball 14 minutes and 24 seconds of the 15-minute third quarter. They had it 9:38 of the second quarter.

After going 20 months and one week since his last regular-season game to finish the 2010 season, Manning waited one more quarter to guide a touchdown drive.

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning has words with umpire Steve Sadowski during the first quarter against the Steelers. More photos. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Defense dominated the early play. Neither team ran the ball well. Neither team hit the big play in the passing game.

It wasn't until the well-decorated quarterbacks received the freedom to do what they do best that the game became entertaining.

For Manning, it meant switching from the ponderous huddle-'em-up, establish-the-run offense to the no-huddle starting in the second quarter. The uptick in tempo helped Manning lead a 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive the Broncos finished off with a 7-yard TD run by Knowshon Moreno.

During the drive Manning was methodically efficient, completing 6-of-7 passes for 51 yards. No surprise there. He did have two plays, though, that were wonderfully out of character. On one, he scrambled right for a 7-yard gain past the first-down marker. On another, Manning was getting wrapped and thrown down by Steelers linebacker Larry Foote. But as he was falling, Manning dumped an incompletion to Willis McGahee.

Foote fumed at the referee for not blowing the play dead. Instead of second-and-long from the 40, Manning on the next play completed a short pass that set up a third-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 25.

Manning finished off the drive, and the Broncos were up 7-3 with 5:16 remaining in the half. Roethlisberger and the Steelers took up most of it.

On third-and-13 from the 21, Roethlisberger hit Emmanuel Saunders, who free-lanced away from coverage, for a 17-yard gain and first-and-goal at the 4. Two plays later, Steelers tight end Heath Miller outmaneuvered Broncos linebacker Joe Mays to get open for a 4-yard touchdown reception.

"In a first game like that, Ben Roethlisberger's a tough guy to play against because he does extend plays," Broncos coach John Fox said.

Aside from a Manning kneel-down to kill the final seconds of the half, the Broncos had the ball for just one possession in the second quarter. They scored a touchdown on that possession. Yet, the Broncos lost the quarter.

After 8 minutes and 55 seconds of third-quarter game clock, the Steelers had to settle for a 35-yard Shaun Suisham field goal. The Steelers were up 13-7, and the Broncos were finally going to get the ball.

Two plays later, it was 14-13 Broncos. Manning completed a pass to Eric Decker on the right, then with the no huddle, threw a simple receiver screen to Demaryius Thomas on the left. With left guard Zane Beadles throwing a block 20 yards downfield, Thomas went all the way with a 71-yard catch-and-run-and-run-and-run touchdown.

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